Action and Mobilization for Peasant Struggle Day Started

This mid of April will be marked with the peasant activities for the commemoration of 17th of April of International Day of Peasant Struggle. Members of Via Campesina world wide have reported their plan of action for that commemoration.

As it has been released on the early of this month, for this year commemoration La Via Campesina calls for its members in the world and also other social movements to to make mobilization and action on the issue of : implementation of genuine agrarian reform, the derailment of WTO and other free trade agreement, stopping the GMO and other related technology and the criminalization of and violence against peasant organization.

From the information that we just received, Via Campesina members in Latin America, Europe and Asia will make their actions, mobilization and festivals. For instance, Via Campesina member in Brazil, MST, will hold very special activities, as this year mark the tenth year of the violence towards farmer’s struggle for agrarian reform, which then commemorated as the day of peasant struggle. While in India, there will be an opening ceremony of peasant seed bank with the seed festival. In Indonesia, peasant will celebrate the struggle date in the rice field making the rice harvesting festivals.

Please see below the first list of activities from each region and please send the information of your action and activities.

1. Brazil : MST in Brazil is calling all its friends to mobilize on April 17
1/ To organise actions in front of the Brazilian ambasies to protest against the impunity in the case of the massacre of Eldorado do Carajas. 17 landless farmers were killed and justice has not been done.
2/ Joint to this action, MST is calling for solidarity actions with the women of La Via Campesina – Brazil who occupied an Eucalyptus plantation (ARACRUZ) in Rio Grande do Sul in March 2006. They are now suffering criminalization and repression. (Dulcineia Pavan : srimst@uol.com.br)

2. USA: The Border Agricultural Worker Project in Texas’ mobilizations:
April 10: Migrants mobilizations in major cities and different parts of US.
(We are also having a march in Juarez, Mexico, tied to all this but also to commemorate the death of Emiliano Zapata on 1991).
April 17: Farm workers and students protest at the border to attend the call of La Vía Campesina and to continue the migrant mobilizations.
May 1: National mobilization (tentatively called “A Day Without Immigrants”)
(Carlos Marentes : marentes@farmworkers.org)

3. Argentina: MOCASE (Movimiento Campesino de Santiago de Montero) is organising a conference day with the FM radio 88.7 FM del Monte on April 17. On April 16, there will organise in the farmers communities popular education activities, resistance, exchange between urban and rural areas, recuperation of territories… (sachaioj@uolsinectis.com.ar)

4. Catalunya: The MST support group of Barcelona is organising varias activities for the International Peasant’s struggle day. But they will take place on April 22 because April 17 is a festival day and in order to meet an international Via Campesina delegation.
(Gloria casaldaliga: glocari8@yahoo.es)

5. Ecuador: The CNC (Coordinadora Nacional Campesina) is organizing a seeds fair in defense of food security and sovereignty and a forum to debate about “The Challenges of the peasant movement facing globalization. The activity are taking place in the city of Cuenca.(cnc@riseup.net)

6. Spain: The MST support group of Madrid is joining a march with various collectives and organizations on climate change. Every organization is bringing its own demands and the MST group will be carrying the farmers call for the April 17. It will also be held on April 22 because April 17 is a holiday. (komitedeapoyo@mstmadrid.org)

7. Brazil (Para): From April 1 to 17 MST is organizing a large pedagogical camp. The goal of the mobilization of youth from MST settlements and camps is to remember 10 years of the massacre of Eldorado dos Carajas (and 10 years of impunity). (Dulcineia Pavan : srimst@uol.com.br)

8. Indonesia: on 17th of April FSPI will make the National Rice Harvesting Ceremony. The celebration will take place in the middle of paddy field and peasant will have their cultural activities and speech before harvesting the rice to show the sufficience national production of rice. Therefore no reason for importing rice as it was needed byWTO. (fspi@fspi.or.id and website www.fspi.or.id)

9. India: KRRS will make International Seed Carnival on 17 of April, which inaugurate the peasant managed seed bank. While on 18-19 of April there will be International Symposium on Seeds and Bio-technolgy in Agriculture:“Self-Reliance in Seeds is the Goal” in – Mysore, India (amritabhoomi@yahoo.co.in. Ph:0091-80-28604737 and Fax:0091-80-28604640.Visit us also at www.amritabhoomi.org)

If you want to receive all the information on the 17th of April please subscribe to the list by sending a blank message to viacam17april-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you need more information or want to send information of action in your country you can also write to viacampesina@viacampesina.org